After another exhausting day at the daycare center, my mother trudges through the door, lets her bags hit the floor, and sighs loudly. “It’s useless trying to talk to these parents sometimes,” she exclaims to no one in particular. “I had another say, ‘I don’t have to listen to you. You people are basically only professional babysitters.’ I do much more than just babysit.” Everyone in the room, having heard this several times before, nod their heads sympathetically but do not actually think about what they are hearing. For a while, I simply followed what the adults did and agreed with everything my mother said. But once I got older, curiosity started to settle in. Since daycare teachers have to receive hours of training, they are obviously gaining the knowledge to do thorough childcare work. Yet how are these skills translated into the work place? What duties do childcare providers have that make them differ from a “professional babysitter?” Fortunately, being related to a daycare worker provides an opportunity for observing firsthand what happens “behind-the-scenes.”
One of the most distinguishing features about most daycare centers are the whimsical displays and bright colors that decorate their exteriors. It is not uncommon to find a popular cartoon character painted on a center’s glass doors or to be greeted by a window full of paper snowflakes during the winter. Although these displays are easily overlooked and after a while may even become expected, more work goes into creating them than one may suspect. Furthermore, people often give little credit to the creative team behind making these centers look visually appealing- the everyday daycare teachers. Excluding the use of occasional decals, most of the decorations placed in windows and around doors are created by the hands of the daycare’s classroom teachers. The teachers often sacrifice portions of their